Contains business records of the Pacific Improvement Company and its subsidiaries. Includes business and legal documents, correspondence, reports, minutes, deeds, annual reports, maps, and blurprints. Contains materials related to the Monterey Peninsula and its development. Business areas covered include land development, coal and iron mining, railroads, and hotels.

This collection contains lithographs, drawings, watercolor paintings, art prints, diplomas, certificates, printed illustrations, cartoons, advertisements, bird’s eye maps, and other printed formats. The main focus is Stanford University and its founders; subjects include the career of Leland Stanford, his racing horses, Stanford University’s history, student life, campus buildings, views of campus, faculty achievements, and others. Some items of note include The Leland Stanford Junior University, Plan of Central Premises, 1888, by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, architects, and Frederick Law and J. C. Olmsted, landscape architects; original water color designs of mosaics for Memorial Church by A. E. Paoletti; nine demands posted by Students for a Democratic Society on the door of the President’s office, concerning the Stanford Research Institute, 1968; original sketches by Leland Stanford, Jr.; Currier and Ives prints of Stanford’s race horses; design for the president’s house by Louis Christian Mullgardt, architect; woodblock prints by Della Taylor Hoss from Mary Curry Tressider’s “Trees of Yosemite,” 1932; print by Enrique Chagoya “Illegal Spirit in Black and White”, 1994; caricature sketches of members of Beta Theta Pi, including Winstead “Doodles” Weaver, circa 1935; and Santa Fe Wing No. 9 by Nathan Oliveira, 1990.

The papers of Jane L. Stanford pertain largely to the founding and administration of Stanford University, along with her personal and social affairs; included in the papers are correspondence, business records, legal and financial papers, speeches, news clippings, and biographical materials. Correspondence, dating from 1860 to 1905, makes up the larger part of the collection. Most of the correspondence concerns the University. Other topics include personal and social matters, her travels, religious discussions, and her interest in kindergartens. Correspondents include David Starr Jordan, the first president of Stanford University, Charles Lathrop, Susan B. Anthony, Timothy and May Hopkins, Julia D. Grant (Mrs. Ulysses Grant) and other members of the Grant family, Caroline Harrison (Mrs. Benjamin Harrison), and Andrew D. White. There are also a large number of condolence letters on the death of Leland Stanford and of begging letters.

Primarily studio portraits (mounted albumen prints) of Senator Leland Stanford, Jane Lathrop Stanford, Leland Stanford Jr., Gertrude Stanford, and Elizabeth Stanford. Also includes photographs of President William Harrison with Stanford during Harrison's visit to Stanford University. Studios represented include Bradley and Rulofson, Taber, and Carleton Watkins of San Francisco; Walary of New York; and Sarony of Paris. There are also a few images taken by Leland Stanford, Jr.

The maps in this collection pertain to the University campus, to other lands owned by Jane and Leland Stanford or the University, and to adjacent communities. Included are maps of the Palo Alto Stock Farm, the land in Santa Clara County that Leland and Jane Stanford purchased as a country home and trotting horse farm which later became the campus of Stanford University; plans for the proposed campus by F. L. Olmsted & Company; miscellaneous campus maps for planting schemes, location of the Peninsular Railway line on campus, plans for Junipero Serra Boulevard, and housing subdivisions; maps of adjacent communities of Mayfield, Woodside, Palo Alto, and Menlo Park along with other subjects such as San Francisquito Creek, Searsville Lake, and Greystone Quarry. There are also three map books: a small volume concerning assorted lands owned by the Stanfords, c. 1869-1903; a block book for the campus, 1901-1903; and insurance maps for the campus, 1917.